Spending long hours behind a desk can get boring very quickly. One of the ways to pass the time, or to impress a few of your work buddies sitting around you, is to learn how to spin a pen on fingers.
As simple as this sounds, it can be tricky if you don’t know how it works. You might have seen many pen spinning tricks, but not all of them are the same. There are harder ones and easier ones, and it all comes down to which one you like the most and are willing to learn.
So, in the following article, we’re going to show you step by step how to perfect the art of pen spinning, no matter your experience.
3 Pen Spinning Tricks: How to Spin a Pen on Fingers
Choosing the Right Pen
If you’re new to pen spinning, this might come off as a shocker. But it’s true — not every pen you own is good for spinning.
Believe it or not, but the type of pen you have impacts the smoothness of the spinning a lot. In fact, over a thousand YouTubers practice pen spinning as a sport, and all of them use “special” pens that are strictly manufactured for spinning rather than writing.
These “special” pens are simply called spinning pens, which have a small marble at both ends of a thin pen stem. Some popular labels that produce these kinds of pens are EXERT, ZHIGAO, and BinaryABC. They all are balanced with marbles to improve spinning ability and are thin to move through fingers easily.
Even without these fancy pens, you can use one lying around your desk. Make sure the pen you use is heavy, as heavier pens tend to be easier to control.
You can either choose to put a cap on at both ends of your pen or take off all caps for better balance; it all depends on your preference.
Avoid using pens with short or very light stems and bulky ones that are as thick as your pinky finger. If you choose one that will be easy to weave through your fingers, you should be fine.
Trick 1 – Thumb Around
You’ve probably seen this one around your workspace many times. A lot of people sometimes do it subconsciously and don’t even notice, that’s just how easy it is.
Step One – Position Your Fingers
Place the middle of your pen between your thumb and middle finger while keeping your index finger as straight and out of contact with the pen as possible.
Step Two – Keep a Steady Hand
Don’t move your hand or wrist while the pen is in your fingers. If you move either of the two, your pen will lose balance and take a tumble in seconds. So, just keep your wrist, hand, and fingers relaxed.
Step Three – Spin
To now make your pen spin around your thumb, push it forward with your middle finger. Once you see the pen complete a full rotation around your thumb, catch it with your middle finger again. Then, repeat the same steps, and it will spin without stopping.
Trick 2 – The Finger Pass
This trick is a little harder to practice than the previous one, but it’s much easier than it looks. In a few tries, you can also master this simple pen spin.
Step One – Position Pen in Fingers
To make the practice tries easier, start with a pencil instead of a pen. Place the middle of your pencil between your pinky and ring finger. The pencil should move upwards towards your middle finger when you push your pinky up and your ring finger down.
Step Two – Pass It Around Your Other Fingers
Now, catch the pencil between your middle and ring finger. Just like the previous step, push your ring finger up and middle finger down to catch it between your middle and index finger. This makes one complete weave.
Step Four – Rotate
Now, repeat steps one through three in reverse. This means start with your index finger and weave through up to your pinky finger. This makes two full weaves, which completes one rotation of the trick.
Trick 3 – Neo Sonic (Normal)
This last trick is much like the first one on our list but a bit more difficult to get right. However, if you can perfect this trick, it will be much easier to control while doing harder pen spinning tricks.
Step One – Placing the Pen
Hold the pen with your pointing finger and thumb, and place it on your middle finger. You can either place the pen in the center or closer to the end, depending on which is more comfortable for you.
Step Two – Steady Your Hand
This should be remembered for every pen spinning trick you do, but for this one, balance is crucial. So, keep your fingers relaxed and do each movement swiftly yet carefully to not lose control over the pen.
Step Three – Spin
Push your index finger downwards and middle finger upwards to turn the pen. You should do this with such a force that it will throw the pen over your index finger. Finally, end the rotation by catching the pen with your thumb and index finger again.
Step Four – Repeat
When you catch the pen, make sure to keep your pinky and ring fingers in the same position they were when you started, or else you could lose balance. This also makes it much easier to repeat the rotation to keep a steady pattern to the spinning.
Conclusion
If you made it up to here, you now are fully equipped with all the knowledge a beginner needs on how to spin a pen on fingers. By managing to learn all the three tricks we’ve detailed, you will already have a heightened sense of balance and control to try out harder tricks.
Remember, a few failed first tries happen to everyone, so don’t be disheartened if a trick does not go the way you wanted it to be. With practice, you’ll be a pen spinning pro in no time.